


The Desire for More

by Hummingbird1759



Series: Fear-verse [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Animal Abuse, Gen, Growing Up, Kid Moriarty, Moral Bankruptcy, Obsession, Organized Crime, References to Drugs, Teenage Rebellion, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 8,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hummingbird1759/pseuds/Hummingbird1759
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of Jim Moriarty's wants, childhood to Reichenbach.  Rated T for angst, violence, profanity, and Moriarty being himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1981

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters will be 221 words or less and display things that Jim Moriarty wants at different times in his life. This story takes place in the same universe as the Greatest Fears stories, but you don't need to have read those to understand this one. Like many violent people, Moriarty committed violence on animals before he was violent to humans. I will put a disclaimer on these chapters, but sensitive souls may want to avoid this story completely. As always, I don't own these characters, Moffat/Gatiss and Conan Doyle do.
> 
> Special thanks to my husband, who came up with the title of this story.

Four-year-old Jimmy Moriarty is playing in the park. He's been digging in the dirt for worms so that he can cut them up. They squirm in all kinds of weird ways when he does, and it's so funny! He wonders why they do that, then decides that they must know they're funny.  _(But why do they stop? Maybe I should try this with other animals.)_  He shows another boy what he's doing and they have fun until the other boy's mum sees him.

"Colm Gallagher! Stop doing that vile thing this instant! You are not allowed to play with that Moriarty boy!" As she drags Colm away, she mutters, "This is why children oughn't have children!"

Jimmy has no idea what that means, so he goes back to playing.  _(It's still fun to play alone. Playing with a ball is stupid.)_  Before he knows it, his mum is calling his name. He tries to hide from her but she finds him and carries him home despite his protestations.

Jimmy just wants to play some more.


	2. 1982

It’s a wet, cold day in Dublin.   The rain, which had been consistent throughout the day, turned into a torrential downpour just as Jimmy began walking home from primary school.  Jimmy didn’t have an umbrella, of course, and the rain soaked through his flimsy windbreaker in minutes.  As he trudges into his family’s flat, his shoes make a squishing sound with every step and he’s shivering.

Closing the door behind him, Jimmy calls out to Mum, who briefly averts her gaze from the television to order Jimmy to put on dry clothes.  Jimmy comes out of his room, still shivering slightly, and flops next to Mum, who immediately swats him on the head for blocking her view and sends him back to his room.  The boy decides he’s never coming out.

An hour later, Mum calls him to dinner, and Jimmy’s growling stomach overrules his pride.  _(Maybe she made hamburgers! Or pizza! Or macaroni cheese!)_ The boy’s fantasiesevaporate when Mum pushes a Styrofoam bowl into his hands.  _(Why do we always have to have Pot Noodle?)_   Da tells him to quit pulling faces or his only dinner will be a slap on the mouth.

Jimmy just wants some decent food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pot Noodle is a UK brand name of instant ramen noodles; it's the sort of stuff you'd only eat if you were too poor to afford anything else (or wanted to make yourself sick from overconsumption of salt).


	3. 1982, part 2

Jimmy has one eye on the television and the other eye on the front door.  Two days ago, Mum went out and she hasn’t come back yet.  He thought she went to the store and he tried looking for her there, but the manager threw him out because he didn’t have a grownup with him.  It’s been pouring all day, so Jimmy figures that Mum has to come home now to get out of the rain and the cold.  

The boy hears a key in the lock and gets excited.  _(Finally!  She’s the only one who brings home food.)_ His hopes are dashed when he sees his father.  _(Stale bread for dinner again tonight.)_

Da walks in, grunts, and deposits a bag of Pot Noodles on the table.  He fishes one package out and begins boiling water.

“Where’s Mum?”

Da slaps him and says, “Your mum is never coming back.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what people do,” Da grunts, and gives Jimmy the look that says, “Stop talking right now _or else_.”

Jimmy just wants to know where his mum went.


	4. 1983

One Saturday afternoon, Jimmy comes home for dinner and finds no food in the kitchen and his Da in a foul mood.  _(As usual.)_   Even though it’s relatively warm outside, Da puts a jacket on and tells Jimmy to put on his hoodie.   The two of them walk to the grocery store in silence.   When they arrive, they keep their hoods up and head for the meat department.  Da glances over his shoulders, then takes a package of hot dogs, unzips his son’s hoodie, places the package inside the hoodie, and zips it back up.  Motioning for the boy to keep still, Da places a few items inside his own jacket and zips it up.  The pair calmly walks home with the stolen food.

Over hot dogs that night, Da tells Jimmy, “Your mum always got angry when I did this, but Tesco’s has loads of money, and we were hungry.  We’re just playing Robin Hood.  And you know what the first rule of playing Robin Hood is?”

“What?”

“Don’t get caught.  If you get caught playing Robin Hood, you go to jail – and I won’t bail you out, because only idiots go to jail.”

Da then explains how he avoids getting caught.  Jimmy drinks the information in; he wants to win at Robin Hood.


	5. 1984

Seven-year-old Jim Moriarty stares out the window of the train as the countryside whizzes past.  He thought it was just going to be a regular day, but instead his dad threw a few of their possessions into suitcases and dragged him to the ferry.  Jim didn’t say anything; he knows better than to bother Da when he’s grumpy.  Instead, he just kept still and listened to what his father said to the man at the ticket counter _.  (We’re going to a place called Holyhead, and the tickets are one-way, so we’re not coming back.)_   He wonders if Holyhead got its name because everyone who lives there has a hole in his head. 

When they reach Holyhead, Jim tries to look for people with holes in their heads, but his father barks at him to keep up.  The make a beeline for the train station, where Da buys one-way tickets to Brighton. 

As the train passes through London, Da finally speaks.  “Someday, we’re going to live here.  London is where the important people are.”

Jim gazes at the stately buildings and the well-dressed people getting on at Euston.  To his eyes, it all seems impossibly grand, and he decides that people must be very important indeed in order to live here.

Jim just wants to be important.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just before writing this chapter, I re-watched The Great Game, in which Sherlock revealed that Carl Powers lived in Brighton and was only visiting London for a tournament. And we all know Moriarty has to meet Carl…
> 
> Thanks to johnsarmylady for helping with a Britpicky detail!


	6. 1984, part 2

“Hey, leprechaun!”

Jim pretends to be fascinated by the glop on his lunch tray.  _(If I don’t look up, maybe he won’t come over here.)_

Carl Powers and three other boys stand behind Jim’s chair.   Carl grins down at him evilly and sniggers, “What’s the leprechaun eating?  Lucky Charms?”

Jim says nothing.

The bigger boy taunts, “Is the leprechaun too poor for Lucky Charms?  What happened to your pot of gold, leprechaun?  Dad spend it all on whiskey?”

Jim snarls, “No, he bought an ugly stick and beat _you_ with it! That’s how you got that gross rash!”

“The ugly one here is _you!_   I bet that’s why your mum ran off!  She didn’t want anyone to know her son was such an ugly little leprechaun!”  Carl laughs mockingly, and the other boys join in.

Just then, Miss Brahms flutters over to the boys and tells them to sit down.  When they take seats at Jim’s table, she smiles approvingly.  “It’s right nice of you boys to befriend Jim – it’s not easy being in a new place.”

After thirty minutes of taking abuse, Jim dumps his spinach on Carl’s head and shouts, “Hey, everybody, it’s Swamp Thing!”

The cafeteria erupts in laughter.  Jim gets in trouble, but he doesn’t care; he wants everybody to know he’s not a pushover.


	7. 1985

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involves the death of animals. Skip it if you're the sensitive sort.

Jim is hiding behind a hedge. He sits as quietly as he possibly can, hoping that Carl and his friends get bored and find somebody else to pick on.  Suddenly, he feels a brush of fur against his arm and he looks down to find that the neighbour’s cat has joined him.  The animal looks up at him and meows expectantly.

“Shh!”  Jim hisses.

“Mrow?”

“Be quiet!  They’re coming!”  He clamps his hand over the cat’s nose and mouth while Carl and his best friend Bill walk past the hedge.

“Do you see him?”  Carl says.

“No.  Maybe he hid in the garbage again.”

“I’m gonna make him eat that garbage,” Carl grumbles as he and Bill take off in the opposite direction of Jim’s house.

With the coast clear, the boy in the hedge breathes a sigh of relief.  His eyes widen when he looks down at the cat.   _(It’s dead!  Five minutes ago it was alive, and I killed it. That’s amazing!)_

A week later, Jim finds another cat, sneaks it into an alley and breaks its neck just to see if he can.  As the animal dies, an adrenaline rush surges through him.  For the first time in his life, Jim feels big and powerful.  He wants this feeling to last.


	8. 1985, part 2

It’s two days after Christmas, and Jim is downhearted.  Dad said that Christmas was going to be better this year, but it wasn’t.  _(I didn’t get the books I wanted, it didn’t snow, and Dad burned dinner.)_

Bored out of his skull, Jim ambles past the shops.  He’s played with all his toys a zillion times, the other kids hate him, and if he tries to steal something again this week, the police will get him. _(Rule one: don’t get caught.)_ When he reaches the bakery, the smells fill his nose and his stomach growls.  He stops by the window and stares at the goodies longingly. 

“Are you all right?”

Jim turns and sees a smartly dressed woman looking down at him with concern.  “No,” he sniffles.  “My mum is sick and she really wants a donut, but we’ve no money and…”

She uses her handkerchief to wipe away the boy’s tears and says,  “Poor thing.  Here, get something for yourself and your mum.”

The boy looks down at the fiver in awe.  “Thanks, ma’am!” He scampers inside, buys a huge cinnamon roll and wolfs it down in the alley behind the bakery.

Emboldened, Jim tries the con again at the toy store and the grocery store, with similar results.  Jim hopes that making money will always be this easy.


	9. 1986

Jim is feeling braver. During summer vacation, Bill moved away, and Carl seems a little less cocky without him.  _(Bill was the only one who got mad when people made fun of Carl’s eczema.)_   Jim decides it’s about time he shows the bigger boy that he’s not scared of him anymore.  He’s been running more and doing push-ups so that he’ll be strong, and at lunch, he challenges the larger boy to a fight. 

“You’re on, leprechaun.  Meet me at the park right after school,” Carl jeers.

After school is dismissed, a great crowd of their classmates assembles at the park.  Jim gets in a few good blows, and his small size allows him to dodge Carl easily.  _(I can win this!)_

Suddenly, Carl gets ahold of Jim’s collar.  Horrified, the smaller boy looks down and realizes his feet are no longer on the ground and he’s spinning.  Before he can react, Jim finds himself face-first on the ground and seeing stars.  He staggers to his feet and Carl knocks him out.

When Jim comes to, he runs his hand through his hair and finds a glob of Carl’s spit.   The boy’s fists clench and his face reddens.  His greatest desire is revenge.


	10. December 1986

Jim is watching Christmas specials on the telly when someone knocks on the door. Dad opens it up and in walks a man in a designer suit.

"Patrick!" The man says, shaking the elder Moriarty's hand. Nodding to Jim, he says, "Little brother?"

"No, that's my son. Jim, say hello."

Jim looks up at the man's expensive clothes in awe. "Hello," he murmurs.

The man in the suit blinks, a bit surprised that someone as young as Patrick has a nine-year-old son. "Right," he says. "Anyway, here's your cut," he says, handing over a paper bag.

Patrick peers into the bag and says, "Er… where's the rest of it?"

"You know the bosses need their share. I suggest you shut your potato-eating mouth before it gets you in trouble," the man says in a steely tone.

"Yes, sir," comes the meek reply.

After the man leaves, Patrick pours himself a glass of whiskey and grumbles about how the bosses sit around smoking cigars and get all the benefits while everyone else risks life and limb.

Jim wonders why his dad isn't a boss and decides that his dad must be dumb.  _(But I'm not! I fool people all time!)_ He promises himself that someday, he's going to be a boss.

 


	11. 1987

Jim sits across the street from The Blackbird – the pub where his dad’s bosses drink – trying to get noticed.  To him, gang bosses are better than movie stars.  _(Bosses have all the money, the coolest clothes, and they get to do whatever they want!)_

One of the men barks, “Oi!  Kid!”

Jim’s head shoots up.  “Yes?”

The gangster saunters over and hands Jim a fiver.  “Watch for coppers for the next five minutes.  If you see one coming, sing the _Jim’ll Fix It_ song.”

The boy stands at the edge of the alley and scans the street for police.  He sees one at the end of the street and begins, “Your letter was just the start of it, now you’re a part of it…”

The cop walks by, ignoring the boy’s tuneless singing.  As soon as the cop turns a corner, Jim stops singing.  The gangster pops out of the alley, glances around to ensure that the coast is clear, then smiles down at him and hands him a tenner. 

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Jim Moriarty.”

“I’m Vincent. Come back tomorrow, kid, I might need you again.”

_(Fifteen pounds just for singing and watching for cops!  Wow!)_ Jim grins broadly as he walks home.  He hopes he can help the gangsters again.


	12. 1988

For about six months now, Jim has been serving as a lookout for gangsters while they do "business." When Jim arrives at The Blackbird today, he expects more of the same. Instead, Vincent invites him out to the back porch where all the gangsters have gathered. The carpark has been cleared out, and Ben, one of the boys in the gang, waits with a smug smile on his face.

"What's going on?"

"We have test for you, Jim. All you have to do is fight Ben, and you're in the crew."

Ben is two years older and a stone heavier, but Jim is no coward. "OK."

Ben's first blow sends Jim sprawling, but he gets back up and starts hitting like a madman. He isn't entirely sure what happens, but before he knows it, Ben is out cold.

"All right, that's enough, kid! You made your point!" Vincent bellows. He extends a hand to Jim and says, "Welcome to the family."

Another adult murmurs, "Wouldn't have expected that sort of fire out of Moriarty's son."

The whole gang – including Ben, after he awakens – shakes Jim's hand to congratulate him. Until now, Jim has never even heard one person say they're proud of him. He wants the accolades to keep coming.

 


	13. 1989

Jim wanders through the park one spring afternoon with nothing much to do. School is out, he's finished with his duties at The Blackbird, and he has zero intention of going back home before dinner.  _(Maybe I'll find a cat…)_

Suddenly, two pairs of hands seize Jim by the arms and start dragging him backwards. "What the hell? Where are you taking me?"

The abductors ignore Jim's protests and after dragging him a few dozen metres, throw him to the ground right in front of Carl Powers – or rather, Carl Powers' shoes.  _(Thinks he's so cool because of those shoes. I wish I could shove them up his arse.)_

Carl sneers down at Jim. "I heard you think you're in a gang, leprechaun."

Jim scowls silently.

Carl nods to the other boys, who kick Jim in the ribs. "I know you're lying. No gang would take a scrawny poof like you! You're just making up stories because your real life is pathetic!"

The bigger boy picks him up by the shirt collar and shakes him, chanting, "Where are your gangster friends now?"

Eventually, Carl drops Jim – who is wearing his only new shirt – into a pile of dog excrement and swaggers off, laughing. Jim's greatest desire is to kill Carl.


	14. 1989, part 2

Most people wouldn't suspect it, but Jim liked to read. Not anything he had to read for school, mind – if somebody told you to read it, it must be boring – but some books were interesting. Lately, Jim's favourite book is one about poisons.  _(Carl's death has to look like natural causes.)_  Belladonna would be too obvious, what with the dilated pupils. Strychnine would show up in a tox screen.  _Clostridium botulinum_ , however, would not – it's metabolized far too quickly.

When Jim hears that Carl has a swim meet in London, he decides to make his move. The team is staying at a hotel, and Jim waits until they're at dinner before sneaking into his room. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the test tube of  _C. botulinum_ he nicked from the university. The bacteria live in a medium that resembles chicken broth, and taking care to cover his nose and mouth, Jim repeatedly dips a cotton swab in the broth and then into the eczema cream. He replaces the lid on the test tube and sneaks out the rear of the hotel.

The next day, screams echo through the pool as Carl drowns. Unnoticed by the panicked crowd, Jim darts to the locker room in search of Carl's shoes. He wants a trophy.


	15. 1989, part 3

Jim is parking cars and motorcycles for one of the adult gangsters’ parties.  Colin, another boy in the gang, sidles up to him and asks, “Did you hear about Carl Powers?”

Jim shrugs.  “That he drowned?  Yeah.”

“Well,” he whispers, “I was in London when it happened, and there was this one kid who said that Carl didn’t drown by accident.  He was murdered.”

“How could Carl having a fit in the pool be murder?”

“I don’t know, but this kid insisted it was,” Colin says matter-of-factly.  “He kept trying to tell the police that somebody murdered Carl, and the murderer stole his shoes.”

The hair on the back of Jim’s neck stands up, but he plays it cool. “So did you actually meet this kid, or did you just make him up?”

“No, I swear, he’s real!  He’s a skinny, posh freak and his name is Sherlock Holmes.”

“What a stupid name.  I bet he’s the biggest freak on Earth,” he says, and quickly changes the subject.

_(If Sherlock Holmes worked out that the murderer stole Carl’s shoes, he can work out how Carl died and who wanted him dead. Somebody that smart and on the side of the angels is big trouble.)_  

More than anything, Jim wants to find and defeat Sherlock Holmes.


	16. May 1990

Colin throws a party while his parents are on holiday, and the boys have a merry time raiding the liquor cabinet.  As Jim blazes through _Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja_ on the Nintendo, the front door opens and everyone looks up to see Ben.

“Candyman’s here!” Ben hollers triumphantly, and he hand out little baggies of white powder.

The older boy asks Jim if he wants to try one, and he shrugs and says, “OK.”  _(Might as well see why everybody wants this stuff so badly.)_

When Jim snorts the powder up his nose, he feels like his mind is wrapped in plastic wrap and that his life is a film where the sound is out of sync with the images.  _(What’s the point?  At least alcohol tastes good.)_   He never wants to do this again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja was a real game for the 8-bit Nintendo. It was relatively violent for a NES game, which made me think that a young Moriarty might've liked it.


	17. November 1990

The Guy Fawkes Day party is winding down, and most of the other teenagers are unconscious.  Jim and Ben are the only ones awake and sober.

“I heard you’re leaving for London tomorrow,” Jim says.

“Where’d you hear that?” The older boy replies, startled.

Jim shrugs.  “Anyway, you’ll need somebody to take over your business here after you leave…”

Ben snorts, “And you think _you_ can do it?”

The smaller boy counters, “You think one of _them_ can? Colin smokes too much weed to keep track of the money, and the others will snort all the profits up their noses. But,” he brags, “ _I_ haven’t even touched coke since that one time last spring!  I’ll sell more than any of them!”

Ben studies him for a moment and then agrees to give Jim a two-week trial.  His regulars are suspicious of the little Irish kid at first, but after confirming that he has a quality product, they flock to him.  During his first two weeks of dealing, Jim makes more money than he’s ever dreamed of before, and the bosses agree to let him continue. 

Strutting down the street in his Benetton jeans and Oakley sunglasses, Jim feels like the king of the world.  He decides that someday, he _will_ rule the world.


	18. 1991

"What the  _hell_  are you doing in my room?" Jim demands, eyes blazing.

"Do you mind telling me where you got these things? A Discman, designer jeans, every rap CD known to man – did you steal  _all_  of it?" Dad says, incredulous.

"None of your business, old man," Jim says, shoving past his father.

The elder Moriarty barks, "Oi! Don't talk to your father that way, punk!"

Jim reels from his father's slap, and then his eyes darken. He smashes his father into the wall and growls, "You forget,  _Patrick_ , I'm stronger than you now. This is a fight you can't win."

The teenager unceremoniously chucks his father into the hallway and slams the door behind him. If Dad finds out how he made his money, he'll want a cut, and Jim can't have that. He wants it all for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who missed the early '90s, a Discman is a portable CD player.


	19. 1991, part 2

The police have been too close to Jim's business for comfort. From talking to the older gangsters, Jim knows the signs of an impending drugs bust, and rather than sit around waiting for the police to ruin all his hard work, Jim decides to head them off at the pass. Bribing the police isn't an option (yet) but duping them is.

An undercover police officer approaches him and asks to buy drugs. Jim tells him he's just selling candy for school, and opens the box of chocolate bars at his feet. Satisfied, the police officer walks off. When the constable is out of sight, Jim removes the chocolate from the box, puts in a few bags of cocaine and marijuana, then replaces the chocolate on top of the bags. He then takes the box back to the Tesco's down the street where some kids from his school had been selling candy.

Next, Jim phones an anonymous tip to the Brighton Police that one of his classmates is selling more than candy bars. The police investigate the boy and find Jim's drugs. The boy is arrested and the police pat themselves on the back.

Jim rolls his eyes.  _(Idiots.)_  He loves the money, but drug dealing isn't exactly mentally stimulating. He wants a bigger challenge.


	20. 1991, part 3

It's been three weeks since Jim stopped attending school, and they've been the best three weeks of his life. He wears whatever he wants, goes wherever he wants, and stays up as late as he wants. The only people he has to deal with are his customers, who pay him and rush off, and the other gangsters, who are ordinary but tolerable.

This afternoon, Jim is sprawled on the couch channel surfing when his father comes home and barks, "Oi! Jim! I just got a call from the truant officer! Why haven't you been to school?"

"Don't want to go anymore," Jim mumbles, not looking up.

"You can't drop out! Hell, even I got my Leaving Certificate!"*

"Yeah, and it  _really_  helped your career," the teen says, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I make more money in one day than you do in a week!"

"Enough! As long as you live in my house, you will treat me with respect!" Patrick bellows.

"Fine," Jim snarls and retreats to his room. He packs up his things and goes to The Blackbird, where he arranges to rent a flat from his Underboss in exchange for more "chores."

 _(Patrick is 31 and still a foot soldier. Who can respect that?)_  More than anything, Jim wants to avoid becoming his father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The Leaving Certificate is a certificate Irish students receive when they complete secondary school, similar to GCSEs in Britain or a high school diploma in the US. For those keeping score at home, Jim is a few months shy of 14 here, meaning that Patrick was about 17 when he was born.


	21. 1992

Fifteen-year-old Jim Moriarty (eighteen-year-old Jim Donovan, according to his fake ID) is sitting at the end of the bar scowling into a pint of lager. The other boys in the crew are trying to hook up with girls, which Jim has no interest in. Sure, he likes the idea of walking into a party with a hot girl on his arm and making all the men jealous, but that's as far as it goes. The idea of being that close to another person disgusts him.A few older men have hit on him, thinking he might prefer them instead, but sex with a man is just as repulsive to him, if not more so.

Jim wishes he could just get out of here and find a stray cat to experiment with, but he's part of a crew now, and if he ever wants to rise up in the organisation, he needs to be out with the lads and pretend to be an ordinary human.  _(Tedious.)_

Jim just wants to be in charge.


	22. 1993

Jim has been called in to see his Underboss, a man called Robert who carries himself with the air of someone who is used to unquestioned obedience.  Jim knew that when he started renting from Robert, he’d have to take on a few extra duties, but until now it’s been nothing major – bribing cops, hiding weapons, assisting with burglaries.

Robert slides an envelope across the desk at Jim, fingers splayed out in order to show off his rings.  He nods at the teen, who gently opens the envelope.  Inside is photograph of a young man with red hair. 

“That man needs to be eliminated.”

Jim is both honoured that the bosses put their trust in him and a little bit worried.  “But why me?”

“You remind us of another young man who dressed the part and did well on the ordinary jobs but couldn’t handle anything big.  He’s 33 and has never been promoted.”

“Sucks to be him,” Jim mutters.

Robert slaps him.  “Don’t interrupt!  Yes, it _does_ suck to be Patrick Moriarty, and it will suck to be _Jim_ Moriarty if you screw this up. Understand?”

“I won’t let you down,” he says with a creepy grin.

“You better not… Vincent wants only the best for his nephew.”

Jim’s greatest desire is for this to go well.


	23. 1993, part 2

The hard part was getting Vincent’s nephew into hospital. Once he managed that, everything else was easy.

Jim disguised himself as a waiter at the nephew’s favourite restaurant and then surreptitiously added Shigella flexneri to his drink. That gave the nephew (Jim had never bothered to learn his name) a nasty case of food poisoning, which landed him in hospital. When the nephew was on the mend, Jim finessed his way into the hospital’s lab, where he swapped the nephew’s blood sample with that of a patient with Gitelman’s Syndrome. As a result, the nephew’s serum potassium level was reported to be critically low when it was actually normal. The intravenous potassium supplementation ordered by the doctor brought the nephew’s potassium level to a critical high and he went into cardiac arrest.

The lab was blamed for the unfortunate error. Robert and Vincent praised Jim’s ingenuity but forbade him from telling anyone about his role in the nephew’s death. Jim sulked for a week. _(This is the best job I’ve ever done for them and I can’t even talk about it! What good is that?)_

He promises himself that someday, everyone will know how clever he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Science alert! Shigella flexneri is a species of bacteria found in tainted water and a common cause of traveler’s diarrhea. Gitelman’s Syndrome is a kidney disease that causes a person to excrete massive amounts of potassium, and people who have this condition need to take large doses of potassium supplements. Overdoses of potassium cause cardiac arrest by destabilizing the heart muscle. When criminals are executed by lethal injection, the drug used to stop their hearts is a rapid injection of potassium chloride.


	24. Fall 1994

Seventeen-year-old Jim Moriarty stows his bags on the overhead shelf and flops down in his seat.  He stretches his legs under the table and smiles to himself.   Train travel is the only time he feels smug about his height.  As the train pulls away from the station at Brighton, Jim almost wants to burst into laughter.   When he first arrived here ten years ago, Patrick had promised him a better life; instead, he got secondhand clothes and humiliation from Carl Powers.  Life didn’t really get better until he took matters into his own hands and stopped listening to his father.  Now he has everything he wanted back then and more.  _(I made it to London without you, old man.  If I’d followed your advice, I’d still be eating Pot Noodle every night.)_  

As the countryside gives way to the outskirts of London, Jim is positively giddy.  _(One more step up the ladder.  Lieutenant today, tomorrow Underboss, and someday, Overlord.)_   This is just the beginning of a white-hot future, and Jim can’t wait to get started. 


	25. 1995

Over the years, Jim has kept tabs on Sherlock Holmes.  From his initial research, he found that Sherlock was the younger son of the Baron Mowalter*.  Even at twelve years of age, Jim knew you couldn’t defeat an aristocrat’s son without money and power of your own, and as the scruffy, ill-mannered son of a petty criminal, Jim didn’t have a chance against someone like Sherlock.

He promised himself that someday, he would.

At eighteen, he’s halfway to that goal – he’s the gang’s most profitable drug dealer and he’s feared throughout London.   But in order to truly be able to defeat Sherlock, he needs all records of Jim Moriarty to disappear.  He isn’t certain yet how this plays into his strategy, but no matter; setting up a false identity can only benefit him. 

Ultimately, erasing Jim Moriarty was easier than expected – he never paid taxes or legally owned property, he’s clever enough to avoid arrest, and he never bothered with a real ID since he has more fakes than he can count.  Within minutes, he’s able to hack his old school’s server and delete his records.  Later, he sends a trustworthy associate to Dublin to destroy his birth certificate.

Jim would like to see Sherlock try to catch him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I tip my hat to Wikipedia for helping me come up with this title. Check out the List of English Barons. ;)


	26. 1996

Jim has been dealing drugs all night, and when the sun finally comes up, he's ready to go home and sleep. As he's walking home, a black car pulls up next to him.

"Get in," the driver says. The Irishman is about to pull his gun when the rear window rolls down a crack.

"It's all right, Jim," says a familiar voice, face obscured by tinted windows. "Get in."

In the backseat, he finds himself sitting next to Vincent, recently promoted to Overlord. What happens next is unclear to Jim; he's drugged and loses consciousness for a few hours.

When he comes to, he's lying on the pool table in the basement of one of Vincent's houses. The older man grins, "I apologise for drugging you, but you understand I can't have people know where I live."

"Why am I here?" Jim croaks.

"Some of the Underbosses would like you to join their ranks. Others don't think you're ready, so I devised this little test for you. Pass it, and you'll be promoted."

_(And if I fail, I'll be out on my arse… or worse.)_ His only desire is to make the Underbosses and Vincent proud.


	27. 1996, part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence in this chapter. Do not read if that upsets you.

Vincent hands Jim a glass of water and he greedily glugs it down. "What's the test?"

"We have a foot soldier who's outlived his usefulness. He's never made good on his promises and he's cost this organisation thousands of pounds. I need you to eliminate him."

"Where do I find him?"

"Finding him will be easy. The Underbosses and I have him detained in the next room. All you need to do is pull the trigger," the older man says, handing Jim a 9 mm pistol.

Vincent opens the door for Jim, who steps into the room and finds himself staring into the foot soldier's terrified eyes. He does not think about the last time he saw this man, or how similar the man's eyes are to his own. A steely expression on his face, he raises the Sig Sauer and fires. Blood and brains spew everywhere.

"I hope you found my performance satisfactory," he says calmly. He hands the gun back to Vincent and saunters out of the room while the Underbosses gape.

Later that day, Jim is made Underboss. He returns to London on the next train and does not attend his father's funeral or ask for any of his things.

Moriarty wants everyone to know what his priorities are – and what theirs ought to be.


	28. 1997

Moriarty sits down in a corner of the pub for his monthly audience with the Overlord.  He adjusts his tie as Vincent joins him.  The two order drinks and exchange pleasantries, and then Vincent asks him what’s really going on.  “You’re never this polite unless you want something, Jim.”

“Vincent, I need to tell you something.  I’ve begun expanding our operations across the Channel.”

The older man blinks.  “I didn’t approve of activity in France.”

“I decided it was better to ask for forgiveness than for permission,” Jim says, placing a file folder on the table.  “This is the data on our operations in France.”

Vincent takes the file, a skeptical expression on his face.  Scanning the numbers, his eyes gradually widen until he looks up at Jim with a face like a stunned deer.

Jim smiles beatifically. “Do you forgive me?”

“Er… yes,” replies the astonished mobster.   “Well done, you.”

The younger man smiles into his glass of red wine.  Moriarty hopes the operations in France will be sufficient to distract Vincent from what he has planned next. 


	29. 1999

Jim smirks down at the corpse, flanked by two Underbosses.  The coup went better than he expected, and now one of the world’s largest criminal enterprises is run by a short Irishman who dropped out of school in Year 8.  Jim nods to Ben, who in turn nods to the triggerman, who shoots the Underboss at Jim’s left.  The other man crumples, an eerie smile still on his face.

Moriarty gazes at the rapidly expanding pool of blood coming from the Underboss’ head.  “Smythe never was our most reliable asset.”

“Indeed,” Ben says.  “Who do you want for his replacement?”

“Colin will do nicely.  And you, _mon ami_ , have proven yourself in France.  How do you fancy Japan?”

“I can’t say no to Japanese girls,” Ben says with a grin.

Moriarty rolls his eyes. “As you wish.  Your plane will leave two days after Vincent’s funeral – must avoid suspicion, after all.”

Moriarty knows that Ben and Colin are the only ones who could challenge him for Overlord.  He suspects that the Japanese girls and the money they make will be enough of a distraction to Ben that he won’t try a power-grab, and Colin is simply too thick to do so without getting caught.  Now that he has all the power, Moriarty will die before giving it up.

 


	30. 2000

It’s a cool summer night in London and Moriarty stands on the balcony of his 30th floor flat, surveying the city.  Many nights, he comes out here and plots his next step: the next cell in the web, the next rival to eliminate, each step inching him closer to his childhood goal of world domination. 

Tonight, however, he’s focused on his other childhood ambition: defeating Sherlock Holmes.

His pursuit of Sherlock had always come second to his rise to power, but now that he’s Overlord, he has time for a hobby.  Unfortunately, his hobby has no time for him. 

He knows that Sherlock studied chemistry at Imperial during the 1996-97 academic year, after which he not only dropped out, but he appears to have dropped off the face of the Earth.  For the last three years, all the searches have come up empty and the Irishman wants to scream at the unfairness of it all.  _(How can the only_ interesting _man on the planet have disappeared??)_

Moriarty wants nothing more than for Sherlock to come out and play.


	31. 2002

Moriarty sits with his feet on his desk, idly flipping through CCTV channels.  _(Boring, boring, even more boring, dull… Ordinary people never do anything worth watching.  I really should get an underling to do this.)_

He hears a knock and sighs, “What do you want?”                                                                                                

The door opens and Colin walks in with a hearty greeting.  “How are you, Jim?”

The shorter man rolls his eyes.  “Bored, as usual.  Have you anything to distract me?”

“Yes, actually.  Remember how you were interested in that Sherlock Holmes kid – the one who thought Carl Powers was murdered?”

“Go on.”  _(Finally! Something interesting!)_

“He bought cocaine from one of my Lieutenants yesterday.”

“No.  It can’t be him,” Moriarty says, hands shaking.  _(No proper genius would poison his mind like that.)_

“I wasn’t certain at first, but my Lieutenant saw him poking around at a crime scene, so I got one of our moles to do some digging.”  He slaps a file onto the desk.  “Sherlock Holmes went to America after he dropped out of Imperial, came back a junkie, tried rehab, and failed.  He’s been homeless two years now.”

Moriarty dismisses Colin, then slams his fist into his desk and howls in fury.  More than anything, he wants a worthy adversary. 


	32. 2006

Colin meekly enters Moriarty's office. "Jim, I've a problem."

"Yes?" Jim yawns.

"My old girlfriend from Brighton stopped by yesterday and she brought a kid she said was mine."

"So call your Lieutenants and have them eliminated," Jim shrugs. "You don't need me for that."

Colin blanches. "Her dad's head of the Krayson gang. If anything happened to her, he'd blame me and…"

Moriarty is no more scared of the Kraysons than he is of a mosquito.  _(However, one less bite would be nice…)_ "No worries. Jim'll fix it."

The Irishman tells Colin a to use a particular lab for the child's DNA test, and then gains access to the lab late one night. He runs two paternity tests for the child – one with Colin's DNA and one with DNA from a Krayson boss. When Colin comes back as the father, Moriarty switches the names on the tests and sends them to the Krayson Overlord, who is furious that one of his trusted men abandoned his daughter and grandson. The infighting destroys the gang.

Moriarty finds himself oddly satisfied after "fixing it" for Colin. He's always wanted a distraction from his boredom, and without Sherlock Holmes, this is as good as it gets.


	33. 2006, part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the following one dovetail with Chapter 12 of my story "Domestic Enemies."

A gang Lieutenant comes into Moriaty’s office.   “Sir, I’ve heard that you can er… ‘fix’ things for people,” the stocky young man begins.

“For a price.”

“My brother and I robbed a store last weekend…”

Moriarty interrupts, waving his hand dismissively.  “And you boys want me to get you off the hook?  Don’t waste my time!”

“Er… actually, sir, I was hoping you could just get _me_ off the hook.”

“Sibling rivalry, eh?”

“He’s shagging my girlfriend and he thinks I don’t know.  I want the wanker gone.”

Moriarty looks the man up and down.  “So why don’t you just kill him?”

With a steely gaze, the Lieutenant replies, “Because that’s too good for him.  I want him to suffer.”

The Irishman cracks a smile at this.   _(Finally, a mildly interesting one.)_    “What’s your name?”

“Tim Nabors, sir.”

“Well, Tim Nabors, I rather like the way you think.  Find me a few more people who need things ‘fixed’ – no one in the crew, that’s too suspicious – and I can arrange this.”

“Thank you, sir!” 

“Not so fast.  I need payment,” Moriarty says with a smile.  He isn’t going to ask for money this time; he wants something very different from Nabors.


	34. 2006, part 3

“For some time, I’ve needed a mole at Scotland Yard. After your brother goes to prison, you can tell them that you’ve seen the error of your ways and want to play for the angels now.  You’re rid of him and I have a source of intel on the police." 

Tim agrees to the plan and finds six local men willing to testify in court that they saw him at a party the night of the robbery.  Five are perfectly ordinary, but nineteen-year-old Sebastian Moran, who needs help to join the Army, stands out. 

“And why the hell do you want that?” the Irishman sneers.

Moran counters, “Because there are too many people who don’t deserve life, and I want to make a living eliminating them.”

Moriarty shrugs.  “You don’t need to join the Army for that.  I’ve loads of work for a trained killer.”

Sebastian smiles cruelly.  “Your killers aren’t called heroes.  When I get tired of the Army, I’ll be set for life.”

The Irishman appreciates Sebastian’s opportunism, and grudgingly agrees to alter the younger man’s psychiatric records.  _(The only marginally interesting person on Earth – aside from Sherlock Holmes, who probably died from that speedball years ago – is off to Afghanistan to get shot at.)_   Moriarty yearns to meet someone who isn’t ordinary.


	35. 2008

At first glance, one wouldn't picture Sebastian Moran as the sort of person that James Moriarty would associate with. Moriarty had grown up poor in Brighton; Sebastian had a middle-class upbringing in Newcastle. Moriarty was short and impulsive; Moran was statuesque and deliberate. Moriarty was an outlaw; Moran was a Queen's Man. But if you went past the surface, you'd discover that Moran was no Queen's Man at all; he'd been dishonourably discharged from the Army after having proven himself to be "completely without moral compass."*

After his dishonourable discharge, Sebastian returned to London and Moriarty's gang. When the Irishman hears about Moran's skill with a rifle, he's intrigued. He decides to test the younger man and brings him up to the roof of his building at night. Thirty-one stories above London's streets, the howling wind makes it difficult to hear – and to aim a rifle correctly.

Moriarty points to a man in the park down the street. "See the bloke in the red jumper? He needs to be eliminated."

Sebastian nods solemnly, sights in his rifle, and a few moments later, Moriarty watches through his binoculars as the man crumples. A text confirms Colin's death, and Moriarty smiles. He wants Moran by his side at all times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The reason for Moran's dishonourable discharge is discussed in chapter 13 of my story "Domestic Enemies."


	36. 2008, part 2

“I need a new right-hand man.  Someone who will protect me but isn’t power-hungry like the last one.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“You joined the Army because you wanted to belong, and you were discharged because you couldn’t follow the rules. It’s clear that you belong here, and this team has no rules. It’s a glamourous job, Sebby: pays handsomely, I have a lovely flat that’s recently been vacated, and you can have all the women you want – or men, if that’s what you prefer. What do you say?”

Moran scowls.  “Don’t call me Sebby, shortarse.”

Within seconds, Moriarty has twisted the larger man’s left arm behind his back at a punishing angle and pinned him to the floor.  “I’m the boss, _Sebby_ , and I’ll call you whatever I want.  Now, you can either play nice with me, or I can twist this arm off and turn you in to Scotland Yard for the murder you just committed, and then you’ll never get out of prison.  What’s it to be?”

The larger man grunts his assent, and the Irishman smiles.  He can’t wait to see what happens the next time someone tries to challenge him for Overlord.


	37. July 2009

Moriarty drums his fingers onto a steel table. The staccato noise echoes through the interrogation room as his lackeys drag in a gang Lieutenant. His cover was recently compromised and Moriarty needs to find out how.  _(The idiots at the Yard couldn't have done this.)_

The guards shove Lieutenant into a chair, sweat pouring out of him. "I can explain," he stammers.

"Go on then," the Irishman smirks.

Lieutenant's words come out in a panicked stream. "Our usual constable, he wasn't there. It was somebody else –"

Moriarty rolls his eyes. "So what? Just bribe him!"

"He wouldn't-"

"EVERYONE can be bought, stupid!"

"He was a private detective," Lieutenant stutters.

Moriarty throws up his hands and screams, "IDIOT! They're even easier to bribe than the real cops! Easier to kill too, which was your Plan B!"

"He had us surrounded! He'd got the police to back him up!"

"The police don't do that," Moriarty snorts.

"They did for him."

"Just give me his name so that we can eliminate him," he sighs, bored.

"Sherlock Holmes."

Moriarty's eyes widen and he snaps, "If you're lying to me, you're dog food."

Moriarty had long ago given Sherlock up for dead. Now that he knows Sherlock is alive, his only desire is to crush him.


	38. January 2010

For twenty years, the Irishman has sought Sherlock Holmes.  After all this time, he’s not going to merely challenge him to pistols at dawn; no, this requires much more strategy.

_(First, I need to test him – see if his mind is still sharp after the drugs.)_   Jim puts out feelers with his Underbosses for a man with nothing to lose, and after testing numerous undesirable candidates, he comes across a cab driver named Jeff Hope.  Hope is ideal for the job – flexible morals, unconcerned about physical risks due to his aneurysm, and a burning need to have his children provided for after he’s gone.

Four “suicides” in, the detective finally joins the game.  Watching Sherlock’s mind work enraptures the Irishman; clearly, the cocaine use didn’t diminish his powers.  Feet on the desk and a smirk on his face, Jim watches the CCTV footage of Sherlock and his pet departing the college.  _(Oh, boys… you’ve no idea what you’re fooling with.)_

Moriarty’s smile grows when the pet asks Sherlock what he’s so happy about and Sherlock replies, “Moriarty.”

“What’s Moriarty?”

“I’ve absolutely no idea,” the detective replies.

The Irishman shrieks in rage and smashes the television.  As shards of glass and plastic fly, he vows that Sherlock Holmes will learn who he is – and remember for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue is from “A Study in Pink.” Thank you Ariane DeVere for posting transcripts on LiveJournal!


	39. 2011

Jim is walking down the corridor at Bart’s with Molly Hooper as she prattles on.  He isn’t paying much attention to her; his only thought is that in a few minutes, he’ll finally meet Sherlock Holmes.  The door to the lab opens and his heart pounds when he sees Sherlock. 

The detective scarcely looks up from his microscope, but that’s rather what Moriarty expected from the posh twit.  _(They never notice the little people.)_ He’s got a strategy, though; while he may not be attracted to men (or women) himself, he knows he’s attractive to some people and Sherlock is likely to be one of them.  Acting shy and flustered, he knocks over a dish, stoops to pick it up (showing off his underwear in the process) and then discreetly places his phone number underneath the dish when returning it to the lab bench.

When the detective doesn’t call, Jim is miffed.  _(Must be more devoted to that little pet of his than I thought… Doesn’t matter; the game will move along regardless.)_  

Sitting in the locker room at the pool where it all began, Jim grins like the Cheshire Cat.  He can’t wait for Sherlock to see his pet now.


	40. 2011, part 2

Moriarty gazes smugly at Sherlock and John, daring them to move.  Sherlock has a pistol aimed at the semtex vest, but if the detective or John so much as breathes incorrectly, the snipers will riddle their bodies with holes.  The tension is exquisite and then…

… a disco beat jangles from his pocket.  _(Fucking hell!)_

The caller appears more insistent than he thought and he reluctantly asks Sherlock if he can answer.

“Oh please, you’ve got the rest of your life,” Sherlock snaps.

The female voice on the other end of the line asks, “Is this James Moriarty?”

“Yes, of course it is. What do you want?” Moriarty says, rolling his eyes and mouthing apologies at Sherlock.

“This is Irene Adler.  I have The Master Key Code, and I hear you’re interested in it,” the Woman purrs.

The Irishman’s eyes widen and he barks, **“Say that again!”** As the echo of his words dies down, he composes himself and says, “Say that again and know that if you’re lying to me, I will find you and I will skin you.”

When Irene confirms that she has the code, he glances up and says, “Sorry. Wrong day to die.”

As Moriarty promenades out, he can only think about the code that is everything he’s ever dreamed of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock and Moriarty's dialogue is from "A Scandal in Belgravia." Thank you to Ariane DeVere for posting transcripts on LiveJournal!


	41. 2011, part 3

Moriarty stands in the wreckage of his flat. He threw an epic tantrum after finding out that the Master Key Code wasn't real, and the thing that infuriated him the most was that he'd actually believed Irene Adler.  _(How did I get so STUPID?)_

Seething, Moriarty stares down at the detritus on the floor. There has to be some other way out of this, some way to get Sherlock.  _(I'll not allow everything I've planned to be destroyed by a high-class whore!)_

"Clean this up," he snarls at Sebby before stomping off to his balcony.

Moriarty pours himself a glass of scotch and stares through the ordinary people thirty stories below. Fooling them is just too easy to be fun. Sherlock was the closest thing to a challenge he had, and now even that's gone.

Or is it?

A smile spreads across his face.  _(Sherlock is a posh git who thinks everything has to be slick and clever. Give him something dirty and old-fashioned and he wouldn't know how to process it.)_

The consulting criminal barks, "Sebby! Get our best crew together! I've a new project."

"What is it?" Moran replies, sweeping up broken glass.

"Breaking and entering."

Moriarty can't wait to see how Sherlock handles this one.


	42. 2012

_(I should have thought of this years ago.)_   When Mycroft Holmes sits down across the table from him, Moriarty stifles a grin.   If he were the contemplative sort, he’d wonder how a genius like Sherlock wound up with such a boring brother, but since Jim Moriarty is about as contemplative as a Chihuahua who drank espresso, he doesn’t give it any thought.  To him, the elder Holmes is just like other humans: only interesting in terms of what they might do for (or _to_ ) him.

Arranging this meeting hadn’t been at all easy; Jim had refused to say a word for weeks, and would only break his silence on the key code if given the chance to speak with Sherlock Holmes’ brother.  Reluctantly, Mycroft’s superiors had allowed it, worried that the consulting criminal might make good on his threat to “blow up NATO in alphabetical order.”

“So tell me about Sherlock,” Moriarty says smoothly.  “What was he like when he was a child?”

“A handful.”

“Oh come now, Mr. Holmes, don’t be like that.  After our adventure with the jumbo jet, I’m practically family.  So tell me, what did little Sherlock wanted to be when he grew up?”

“A pirate,” Holmes replies, his face still a mask. 

“I can’t wait to hear this story,” Moriarty purrs.


	43. 2012, part 2

It was all too easy.  Getting the information from Mycroft, finding that idiot reporter and convincing her to ruin Sherlock’s reputation, sending the assassins and the snipers after him, arranging the kidnapping…  so bloody easy.  And the code – a toddler could’ve seen through that one! 

_“Oh, that’s the problem – the final problem. Have you worked out what it is yet?”_

The criminal smirks to himself.  Of course Sherlock hasn’t worked it out, nor shall he.  _(I went from gang lookout to gang leader, made the gang into a global syndicate, defeated my archenemy, and I’m still bored.  I’m out of distractions and after almost thirty-five years on this miserable planet, I’m tired of looking for them.  What’s the point, when they’re all BORING??)_

“Stayin’ Alive” bursts out of Moriarty’s phone. _(Sebby again.  Tedious.)_   He briefly wonders what will happen to Sebby when he’s gone and then decides that he doesn’t care.  _(He and the others have served their purposes.  Send them out to pasture or to the glue factory; what difference does it make?)_

Sitting on the roof of Bart’s, the criminal fidgets as he gazes down at the street below.  He wants to finish this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue here is from “The Reichenbach Fall.” I am forever in debt to Ariane DeVere for posting transcripts on her LiveJournal.


	44. 2012, part 3

“Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that I am one of them,” the detective hisses.

Realization dawns over Jim. _(Dramatic speeches, spent his whole life looking for a cure for boredom… why didn’t I see this sooner?)_   Laughter bubbles up in Jim’s gut and boils over like an unwatched pot.  _(I didn’t need the snipers after all. He'd self-destruct without me – back to the drugs, out of sight.  This is just quicker.)_

“No, you’re not.  I see.  You’re not ordinary.  No. You’re me.  You’re _me!_   Thank you,” the criminal says through hysterical giggles.  Blinking back tears – the detective will think they’re tears of gratitude, but they’re actually tears of mirth – he whispers, “Thank you.  Bless you.  As long as I’m alive, you can save your friends; you’ve got a way out.  Well, good luck with that.”

As the shocked detective staggers backwards, Jim whips out his pistol and turns it on himself.

James Moriarty is free from want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue here is from “The Reichenbach Fall.” I am forever in debt to Ariane DeVere for posting transcripts on her LiveJournal. I’m also forever in debt to you, lovely readers! Every review I’ve received (even the negative ones) has been a pleasure. 
> 
> I’m going to take a hiatus from writing fanfiction for the next few weeks since real life needs my attention. I will continue to respond to PMs and reviews and read others’ stories.


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